Reinforced tubular fabric and process of knitting the same.



J, W. METTLER & W. E. SMITH.

REINFORCED TUBULAR FABRIC AND PROCESS OF KNITTING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2,1914.

Patented June 8, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET mm b WT ck Yr l HHHHH J. W. METTLER & W. E. SMITH.

REINFORCED TUBULAR FABRIC AND PROCESS OF KNITTING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2,1914.

1 l4 1 ,97 1 Patented June 8, 1915.

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2W mm awman dots JOHN WYGKOFF METTLER, OF EAST MILLSTONE, AND WILLIAM E. SMITH, OF MILL- TOWN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS T0 KILBOURN MANUFAOTUBING'GOREORATION, OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented- June 8, 1915.

Application filed. July 2, 1914. Serial No., 848,533.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, Jon-N WYCKOFF METTLER and WiLLIAM SMITH, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at East Millstone and Milltown, in the counties of Somerset and Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reinforced Tubular'Fabric and Processes of Knitting the Same; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a circular knit stocking embodying our invention and certain instrumentalities which we prefer to employ in carrying into effect the process of knitting our improved stocking, and our invention is fully disclosed in the following'description and claims.

Referring to the said drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a half hose embodying our present invention. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of a tubular portion of the stocking, as for example, on the. line 22 of Fig. 1, or 2- a in the same figure. Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively apartial interior view and top plan view of a knitting cam which we advantageously employ in carrying our invention into effect in a circular knitting machine. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the needles which are employed for knitting the front portions of the le of the stockin and top portion of the cot. Fig. 7 is a 'agrammatic view in the nature of a pore ective illustrating the operation of the nee es in carrying our. invention into efiect in accordance with the mechanism which we prefer to employ for the purpose.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a modified form. of stocking embodying our invention. Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. '2 being a section on line 9'9 or 9- a of Fig. 8. Fig. 10 represents a partial vertical sectional view of a knitting machine illustrating another form of mechanism for carrying our invention into effect. Fig. 11 is a top plan view of the mechanism illustrated in Fi .10. v

the manufacture of stockings in accordance with an invention of Edward E. Kilbourn, William E. Smith, and Isaac W. Kilbourn, the sole portion of the stocking between the heel and toe pockets is knit with stitches of sufliciently larger size than the force the elongated sole by throwing in a splicing thread and feeding the same to the needles knitting the sole portion of the stocking, the stitch of which is increased in size to the extent before indicated and to float the splicing thread across the cylinder in the usual manner, the remaining needles of the circular series knitting the normal or tight stitch used in the leg or top of the foot of the stocking. The float threads are then severed in the usual manner after the stocking is finished, leaving the cut ends inside of the stocking. In some cases it has been found that on account of the eat in crease in the size'ofthe stitches through the sole, when the stocking is distended on the foot in wearing the same, and also in the handling of the stockings in the dyeing and finishing of the same, the loose ends of the feinforcing threads are liable to be pulled throughthe last course of stitches in which thev enter so :as to project from the outer side or face of the fabric and produce a line of-frin e outside of the stockin which is unsight y and afiec'ts the salab'i 'ty of the article, and this is likely to occur at both sides of the-stocking to a greater or less extent.

Our invention is directed particularly to the securing of the ends of the reinforcing thread where it is knit into a portion only of the cylindrical tube and in stitches which are'of greater size than the stitches forming the remaining portion of the tube and to this end we introduce the splicing thread at a point in the portions of the series of needles knitting the finer segment of the fabric, for a plurality of needles before and after, or in other words, at each side of the ser'ies'of consecutive needles which knit the enlarged stitches, theeffect of which isto leave both ends of each reinforcing thread,

when the float threads are cut out, securely tied into and frictionally held by a pluthe stitches of which are increased in size sufficiently to make the sole longer and wider than the corresponding top portion, the sole also being reinforced by the insertion of a reinforcing thread. d represents theusual heel pocket and e the usual toe pocket, and 7 represents the usual high spliced portion or reinforced portion above the heel. Line 11 in Fig. 1 represents the line of division between the tight knit top portion 6 of the foot and the sole portion a knit with the enlarged stitches to fashion the stocking, as before stated. Fig. 2 represents asection on line 22 of Fig. land the dotted line 1-1 indicates the horizontal plane of the side lines of division 11, separating the sole portion a from the top of the foot I). Ordinarily the splicing thread would be introduced at a: Fig. 2 at one side of the c linder, carried around to the point 3 and oated across on the dotted line 1- According to our invention, the reinforcing thread is introduced' at w and delivered to a number of needles, say 1, 2, 3, or 4,.as may be found high splice f) if as may desirable, of the needles which knit the close or-tight knit fabric, and the splicing thread is carried around to the point y, being fed to a corresponding number of needles of the series knitting the tight or close fabric on the other side, and is floated across on the It will be seen that when the float threads are severed at a, for example, the loose ends are eflectually tiedinto the tight or close knit stitches of the part b of the tube, as indicated at c in Figs. 1 and 2, so that they are firmly held and are not drawn to the surface of the fabric by any stretching of the fabric in the rocesses of manufacture or wear, or su sequent laundr ing, and the objectionable features hereto ore mentioned are therefore entirely obviated. Our invention is also applicable to the: tying in 'of the ends of the float threads in a high spliced ortion, (as the e the case, the stitchesof they high spliced portion are slightly increased in size for the better accommodation of the: licing thread. This increase in the size '0 stitches for the-ac- .5 of stitches before referred to through the commodation of the-splicing thread is not to. be confused with the increase of the size i of the stocking, as indicated at f. vention therefore covers broadly the tying not as a matter of fact increase the length or width of the fabric and is merely done to facilitate knitting by making it easier to draw in the reinforcing thread. However, the increase in the size of the stitches for the purpose of permitting the reinforcing thread to be drawn in will have the effect of making iteasier for the ends of the float threads on the inside of the stocking to pull through to the outside and present the ob jectionable fringe on each side of theankle in the high splice, if the latter is in the manner referred to. Our invention is also applicable to the tying in of the splicing threads at opposite sides of the ankle, by carrying them into a few stitches of the tight knit fabric forming the ankle when ur min of the loose ends of the. reinforcing threads employed in reinforcing a portion of a tube in which the size of the stitch is increased either for the accommodation of the reinforcing thread or for fashioning purposes, or any other purposes, by carrying the reinforcing thread into one or more stitches of the tight knit fabric at each side of the reinforced portion, so knit with larger stitches.

Our inventioncan be carried into effect in several ways. We prefer, however, to-carry it'into effect on a circular stocking knitter of the well knownKilbourn type in which the needles knitting the front portion and rear portion of the stocking are operated by separate cam cylinders which rotate, together during circular work to operate all of the needles, the upper cam cylinder alone being operated during reciprocating work and narrowing and widening, to form the heel andtoe pockets. In carrying our invention into effect, the knitting cam or stitch cam'of the lower cam cylinder which actuates the needles knitting the tight fabric or the front portion of the leg of the stocking and top of the foot, is provided with a drawing down cam, which for convenience of referencewe term the splicing cam. Thus, in Figs. 3 and 4:, G represents the lower cam cylinder, 9 the knitting cam thereof,and g the drawing down cam or splicing camwhich precedes the knitting' cam when knitting 01118,! work, and 9 represents the for restoring the needles to higher position. .The drawing down-cam ismade only about one half'the thickness of the knitting cm,

as shown inFig. 4. The needles which knit the front portion of the leg and top of the ill;

all

from w to y are provided with the usual length nibs as shown in Fig. 6 in which one of these needles I) is illustrated, the nib being represented at 6 knit the portion' of the fabric from m to a: and from y to- 11 or in other words, the tight stitches occurring in each course 1mmedia-tely adjacent to the reinforced enlarged stitches, are provided with a short nib, as shown in Fig, 5, which represents one of these needles b the nib of which is indicated at 5*, and for convenience of refer-.

ence we call these the tying in needles, of which there may be 1, 2, 3, or 4, or more, as found desirable. The nibs b are sufficiently short so that they are not acted upon by the drawing down cam 9', but are acted upon by the knitting camg and riser cam 9 The operation of the machine is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 7 in which we have shown the circular series of needles comprising the needles I), and the tying 1n needles 6 at opposite sides of the circular series, and the needles 6, which are actuated by the upper knitting cam, in the usual manner, and which knit the reinforced sole portion, the high spliced portion, and the heel and toe pockets.

It will be understood that the main knitting thread is supplied to the needles by one thread guide and that the splicing thread is supplied by a separate thread guide. In the diagrammatical figure, t represents themam thread guide delivering the main knlttlng thread t and t represents the auxiliary thread guide for feeding the splicing thread t As shown in the diagrammatic view, the auxiliary thread guide 15 carrying the splic ing thread 25 delivers the knitting thread 25', and. the auxiliary thread guide preferably precedes the mainknitting thread guide, as

indicated. In the position of the parts in dicated diagrammatically in Fig. 7, the knitting cam is supposed to be substantially in the position indicated by the dotted line extending across the figure, and on the near side of the machine. it Will be seen that the drawing down cam has preceded the knitting cam and hasdrawn down the adjacent needles I) to a lower plane, while the short nib needles 6 are not actuated by the, draw-v ing down cam and remain in the higher plane so that they will receive both the reinforcing thread if and the main knitting thread 25 while the needles I) which have the long nibs will receive only the main knitting thread t. As the cams pass around to the other side of the cylinder, the drawing down cam or splicing cam 9 will continue to draw down the needles 5' until it reaches the needles 6 on the other side of the cylinder, which will not be affected, and which will again receive the splicing thread 2?, which is thus drawn across the-cylinder m the form of a float thread from the needles The needles which I), on one side to the needles 6 on the opposite side. The needles 5 will of course receive both the splicing thread and the main knitting thread during the circular knitting, and the stitches formed by the needles 6 will be increased in size during the formation of the sole portion of the stocking so as to make the sole longer and wider than the corresponding-portion of the top of the foot as before stated, for the purpose of fashioning, and may be made to draw slightly larger stitches than those made by the needles b and If during the knitting of the high splice, if desired, for the purpose of better accommodation of the reinforcing thread, by suitable adjustment of the lower knitting cam.

We have not illustrated the mechanism for increasing the length of the stitches formed by the needles 6 as this forms no part of our present invention, but the same may be accomplished, for example, by making the cam carried by the lower knitting cylinder vertically adjustable and by shifting it to difierent vertical positions by hand or by means of pattern mechanism in any desired manner, to increase the gage of the stitches either for the purpose of fashioning or for the purpose merely of accommodating the reinforcing thread. In either case, as will be seen, the reinforcing thread t after be ing fed to the needles 6 will be fed to a plurality of needles knitting the tight stitch at opposite edges of the reinforced portion, thereby tying in the reinforcing thread in each course at each edge of. the reinforced portion, so that when the float threads are severed, as before described, the loose ends will remain on the inside of the fabric, and will be firmly held in the stitches knit by the needles b and will be prevented from slipping to the outside of the fabric, by distention of the fabric or otherwise.

In carrying out our invention as hereinbefore described, the ends of the reinforcing threads in each course are carried beyond the needles which are used in knitting the heel and toe pockets by reciprocating work and into the stitches at either side formed by the needles which knit the front half of the leg and top portion of the foot, which results in making the reinforced portion of the stocking two or more stitches wider than would otherwise be the case, in order to tie in the ends of the reinforcin threads. Our invention is, however, capab e of being carried into efi'ect without carrying the reinforcing thread beyond those stitches which knit the back half of the stocking and the heel and toe pockets and byother mechanism than a machine of the Kilbourn type hereinbefore referred to. Thus, in Figs. 8 and 9 we have shown a stocking in which the relnforcing thread is confined entirel to the stitches knit by the needles which it Nil the back half of the stocking and the heel and toe pockets, and in Figs. 10 and 11, we have illustrated one form of mechanism for forming this stocking, which differs from the mechanism heretofore described.

In Fig. 8 A represents the stocking proper, a theleg portion, 6 represents the top portion of. the foot, 0 the elongated fashioning sole which is knit with sufliciently enlarged stitches to make the sole from a half inch, to an inch longer and correspondingly wider than the fabric formed by a corresponding number of courses of the top of the foot, 03 represents the heel, e the toe, and F. the reinforced portion above the heel termed the high splice. In this case it will be noted that the reinforced high spliced portion and sole portion are confined to the same number of stitches as are used in the first and last courses of the heel, and in such case we tie in the ends of the splicing threads by reducing the size of a number of stitches, usually from one to four, at each side of the reinforced portion, to substantially the same size as the stitches which are used'in'the leg and top of the foot, as'indicated by the dotted lines 1010 and 1010 in Fig. 8, in other words, we increase the size of the stitches of all the needles knitting the high spliced portion and the sole portion of the foot, except one'or more needles of the series at each side, which are not made to increase the size of their stitches. By this means the ends of the reinforcing threads are effectively tied in in the same knit on the needles, the stitches of which form the front portion of the leg'and top of the foot. In this case the float/thread will be carried across on this dotted line 1* and the stitches" between the dotted line 1010 and the dotted line 1 i in that carrying out our invention in the manrotated in any suitable manner and provided with a knitting cam for engaging the nibs of the needles N, the circular series of of the web holders or sinkers, and in this instance the enlargement of the stitches either for reinforcing or for fashioning the 1 stocking, by elongating the sole portion a to the extent hereinbefore indicated, is .accomplished by raising all of the consecutive sinkers associated with the needles, the stitches of which are to be increased in size.

In this instance, we have shown the needle cylinder provided with a vertically movable shell K which is in the form of a segment of a cylinder and is mounted inside of the needle cylinder, with its upper edge is beneath inward extending portions 8 of those web holders associated with the needles the stitches'of which are to be increased in size. As shown in Fig. 11, the upper edge I: of the segmental shell K is of such extent that it will engage simultaneously all of the sinkers S associated with those needles knitting the rear half of the stocking and the heel and toe pockets, except those at the ex treme ends of the series, in this case four sinkers at each side of the machine, indicated at-S S in Fig. 11. The shell K may be elevated in any desired manner. For example, we have shown ah eccentric L mounted on the end of a rock shaft M provided with an actuating'arm m operated by hand or by suitable pattern mechanism, or otherwise, to rock the shaft, and through the eccentric L effect the proper amount of elevation of the shell K to increase the size, of the. stitches to a slight extent for reinforcing purposes, or to a much greater extent for knitting the long fashioning heel and increasingthe length of the fabric to.

the extent heretofore indicated, and we have also shown the set screw m by means .of which the rock shaft may be located in.ad-' justed position, if desired, 'as might be the case where the adjustment is made by hand. In carryin out our improved recess for the manu acture of our improve stocking as illustrated in Figs. 8 to 11, the vle is knit in the usual manner by circular wor until the point therein is reached where the high splice f ais to be formed in the back of, the leg above the heel, when the shell K will be elevated slightly to increase the size of the stitches so as to facilitate the admission of the reinforcin thread, and the reinforcing thread is fe to all of the needles which knit the back half of the stocking and the heel and toe pockets. This will, however, not elevate the sinkers s at either side of the machine, so that the stitches between the-dotted line 1010 and line 1"-l" at each side of the fabric, indicated at P, will not be increased in size, and will tie in and frictionally hold the ends of the splicing threads when the latter are severed. The heelis thenknit in the usual manner in which the long fashioned sole 0 is knit, during-nyhich time the shell K will be adjusted to a much higher position to elongate the stitches to such an extent as to increase materiallyythelength of the fabric beyond that of the corresponding courses of the top of the foot Z). It will be seen that the stitches of the sole portion at each side of the stocking between the line l010 and 1"1", indicated at c of Figs. 8 and 9, will not be increased in size, and hence the ends of the splicing thread will be effectively tied in, in the manner hereinbefore described, without increasing the width of the reinforced portion.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The herein described process of knitting a tubular fabric having a portion of each course extending less than all the way around the tube knit with larger stitches than the remaining portion of the fabric, the enlarged stitches being reinforced, which consists in carrying the splicing thread in each course through the enlarged stitches and into a plurality of the tight stitches at I either side of that portion of the fabric formed by the enlarged stitches, to tie the ends of the reinforcing thread and preventthem from being drawn to the exterior of the fabric.

2. The herein described process of knitting a seamless stocking, which consists in knitting the leg and top of the foot with a tight stitch, knitting the sole portion with stitches sufficiently larger than those in the corresponding courses in the top of the foot to make the sole portion longer and wider than the corresponding portion of the top of the foot to fashion the stocking, and carrying a reinforcing thread through the said enlarged stitches of the sole portion and into a plurality of the tight stitches of the top of the foot adjacent to the sole portion at opposite sides of that foot portion of the stocking to tie the ends of the reinforcing threads when the latter are severed, and prevent them from being drawn to the outer surface of the stocking.

' 3. The herein described process of knitting a seamless stocking, which consists in knittin the main portionof the leg and top of the cot with a tight stitch, knitting the rear portion of the leg above the heel with a slightly enlarged stitch to accommodate a reinforcing thread, introducing a reinforcing thread into the said enlarged stitches in each course, and carrying it into a plurality of the tight stitches in the ,corre- 4. The herein described process of knit ting a seamless stocking, which consists in knitting the main portion of. the leg and top of the foot with a tight stitch, knitting the rear portion of the leg above the ,heel with a slightly enlarged stitch to accommodate a reinforcing thread, and knittingthe sole portion of the foot with sufiiciently larger stitches than those in the corresponding courses of the top of the foot to make the sole portion of the foot longer and wider than the top of the foot to fashion the stock ing, introducing a reinforcing thread into the said enlarged stitches of the said reinforced portions, and carrying the reinforcing thread into a plurality of the tight stitches of the other portions of the fabric, at each side of the reinforcing threads, when severed and prevent them from being drawn to the outside of the fabric.

5. The herein described tubular fabric having a portion extending less than all the Way around the tube formed of larger stitches than the remaining portion, said enlarged stitches containing a reinforcing thread, and said reinforcing thread extending into a plurality of the tight stitches at each side of the fabric formed by said enlarged reinforced stitches to tie the ends of the reinforcing threads when the latter is severed.

6. The herein described seamless stocking having the leg and top of the foot knit with tight stitches, and the sole portion knit with suificiently larger stitches to make the sole portion .longer and Wider than the corresponding courses of the top of the foot, the sole portion/being reinforced and the reinforcing thread extending in each course into a plurality of the adjacent tight stitches at opposite sides of the portion of .the fabric formed by said enlarged stitches.

7. A seamless stocking having the main portion of the leg and the top of the foot knit with tight stitches, a high spliced portion at the back of the le above the heel knit with slightly enlarge stitches to accommodate a reinforcing thread-and the reinforcin thread in each course extending into a p urality of the tight stitches at oppositesides of the portion formed by said enlarged reinforced stitches.

8. The herein described seamless stocking having the main portion of the leg and top portion of the foot knit with tight stitches, the portion at the rear of the leg above the heel knit with slightly enlarged stitches to accommodate. a reinforcing thread and con taining a reinforcing thread, the sole portion between the heel and toe pockets being knit with sufficiently larger stitches than those in the top of the foot to make the sole portion longer and wider than the corresponding courses of the top of the foot to fashion the stocking, the enlarged stitches of the fashioned sole portion containing a reinforcing thread, the reinforcing thread of both of said reinforced portions extend- 10 ing in each course into a plurality of the 

